GB1584151A - Highpressure filament reinforced hose having integral filament-bound couplings and method of making same - Google Patents

Description

PATENT SPECIFICATION

_ ( 21) Application No 15440/76 ( 22) Filed 15 April 1976 ( 23) Complete Specification filed 11 May 1977 ( 44) Complete Specification published 4 Feb 1981 : ( 51) INT CL 3 F 16 L 9/16 e ( 52) Index acceptance F 2 P l A 15 A 1 A 16 A 1 A 17 A 18 A 1 A 8 1 A 9 1 B 3 1 B 7 2 A 32 C 10 F 2 G 29 2 A ( 72) Inventor JAN INGER RONALD ROEST ( 11) 1 584 151 ( 54) HIGH-PRESSURE FILAMENT REINFORCED HOSE HAVING INTEGRAL FILAMENT-BOUND COUPLINGS AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME ( 71) We, VRED'ESTEIN N V (formerly known as International B F GoodrichEurope B V) a corporation organized under the laws of the Netherlands, of Oude Haagweg 128, The Hague, The Netherlands, do hereby declare the invention, for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the

following statement:-

The present invention relates to a high pressure, reinforced hose of the type used as dredge hose, dredge couplings, dredge discharge sleeves, oil lines, petroleum lines and the like.

High pressure hoses of elastomeric material have been made by sequentially winding alternate layers of a tape of a vulcanisable rubber and of rubber-coated textile fabric and/or metal wire or cord reinforcement on a rotating mandrel The rubber and reinforcement layers thus laid down are in cross-section distinctly laminar in appearance Such a winding procedure is not only time consuming but it is difficult to apply compact layers of rubber because not much tension can be applied to the easily stretchable tape of unvulcanised rubber.

Moreover, couplings commonly employed on this type of hose comprise an integral outer metal collar and sleeve combination, the sleeve portion of which is built into the internal end bore at each end of the hose section during manufacture Outer compressive bands or clamps are placed over each end of the hose in the region of the sleeves to assist in retaining the sleeves under internal pressure Axial forces on the hose are transferred to the couplings and in the existing hose these forces are taken up largely by the outer compression bands Hose of this construction to be used as dredge discharge sleeves (connector between dredge and floating dredge line) or as floating dredge lines per se require that the internal bore of the sleeves be lined with rubber to resist abrasion.

Such lining must be applied by hand in a difficult operation, especially in the smaller hose sizes, at significant expense Such dredge hoses under favorable service can carry a 50 nominal pressure (burst) rating of 50 to 57 atm.

But under unfavorable' or severe service conditions, the combination of high internal pressure, and especially of high transient in 55 ternal pressures exceeding the pressure rating, with twisting, extension and shearing forces exerted at the couplings tend to expel the coupling sleeves When this happens, dredging must be terminated while the damaged dis 60 charge sleeve or hose section is replaced.

Also, the damaged section usually must be sent back to the manufacturer for repair.

Under these conditions the maximum allowable working pressure of the hose may be as 65 low as 20 atm or less, whereas the hose body can easily be built to withstand much higher pressures.

Floating dredge hoses of rubber are now made having externally applied flotation 70 collars so as to float without the usual pontoon supports The action of tides, winds and waves on such floating lines often imposes very severe strain on the couplings which sometimes fail at an unacceptable rate These 75 problems, plus a tendency for dredging pressures to increase, require significantly improved hose incorporating improved couplings.

The present invention provides both an 80 improved high pressure hose having integral, suitably, e g metal, couplings bound to a pattern of continuous filamentary reinforcements extending throughout the hose body and a method of manufacturing such hose 85 According to the present invention there is provided a high pressure, reinforced hose, which comprises a body wall of elastomeric material, an integrally connected coupling at each end of the hose for assembly in use, 90 each of the couplings comprising a first, axially outer coupling member and a second axially inner coupling member, a winding of filamentary reinforcement comprising a plu1,584,151 rality of continuous lengths of the filamentary reinforcement arranged in a substantially flat band-like grouping in side-by-side spaced disposition, the grouping being disposed helically with respect to the axis of the hose and extending continuously back and forth through the body wall in successive runs at equal but opposite angles with respect to said axis, the substantially flat band-like grouping of filamentary reinforcement being secured mechanically to the first coupling members at locations thereon which are radially outside of the circumference of the hose body, and additionally the portions of the winding at the coupling locations being clamped by means of the second coupling members and sealed by elastomeric material to the respective first coupling members.

In one embodiment of the present invention, each of the first coupling members carries a plurality of winding-retaining means arranged in a circle radially outwardly of the body of the hose, the substantially flat band-like winding grouping is brought, at the ends of its runs, outwardly from the body of the hose and located on the windingretaining means at the same location with respect to the circumference of the hose body, and each of said first coupling members and its respective second coupling member are clamped over the retained ends of the runs of the winding by a compressive force exerted in a direction parallel to the axis of the hose.

Each of the second coupling members preferably has its inner periphery shaped to provide a smooth transition of the substantially flat band-like winding grouping from the hose body to the winding-retaining means and its outer periphery shaped to accommodate a recessed bundle of elastomeric material encased reinforcing filaments over each of said winding-retaining means.

In a further embodiment of the present invention, each of the first coupling members has a plurality of winding-retaining projections arranged equidistantly in a circle outside of the hose body wall and extending in a direction parallel to the axis of the hose, each end of each said successive run of the substantially flat band-like grouping being passed over the correspondingly winding-retaining projection at each coupling, and the substantially flat band-like winding grouping being arranged in successive complete passes through said body wall with each successive complete pass being indexed over the successive winding-retaining projection at each first coupling member to form a balanced filamentary reinforcing structure.

In the high pressure hose according to the present invention, each of said first coupling members preferably carries a plurality of bolthole bushings rigidly secured thereto and arranged equidistantly in a circle radially outside of the hose body wall and extending in a direction parallel to the axis of the hose, said substantially flat band-like winding grouping being passed back and forth through said body wall in complete runs with each end of each said run passing over the corresponding bolt hole bushing at each coupling, and each first coupling member and its respective second coupling member being secured together by bolts passed through the bushings and exerting on the bushing-engaged winding a compressive force exerted parallel to the axis of the hose.

The hose of the present invention has a network of numerous filamentary reinforcements helically disposed to the axis of the hose, which reinforcements are continuous in character in the sense that each individual strand thereof passes back and forth through the body of the hose in a plurality of successive runs with each of such runs mechanically engaging the first coupling member at each end of the hose, and with the first coupling member engagements of successive circuits or passes being circumferentially progressively and regularly advanced about the coupling to form a balanced structure in which longitudinally exerted forces tending to separate the couplings from the hose body are taken up largely by tension in the filamentary reinforcements A "circuit" or "pass", as used herein refers to the portion of a winding used herein, extending from its point of engagement with a first coupling along the hose body at one helix angle to the other coupling and returning along the body at an equal but opposite helix angle to the first coupling at a predetermined engagement location thereon A "run", as used herein, refers to the portion of a winding extending from its point of engagement with a first coupling along the hose body of a helix angle to Ch other coupling.

The hose of the present invention has a reduced tendency to twist in service due Lo its highly balanced filamentary pattern The coupling-engaged winding is clamped to each coupling by clamping means exerting a compressive force directed only longitudinally of the hose parallel to the axis and the resulting structure is crosslinked in place on the mandrel, on which the hose is formed, to produce a hose of solid, reinforced elastomeric material having integral filament bound couplings.

After crosslinking there is, in the hose of the present invention, very little, if any, residual tension in the pattern of filamentary reinforcement.

According to the present invention there is also provided a method of making a hose of an elastomeric material having filamentary reinforcement and a coupling integrally connected at each end for assembly in use, which method comprises, mounting a pair of first coupling members in spaced-apart relation on 8 vD a rotatable mandrel, each first coupling member having a plurality of circumferentially disposed winding-retaining means carried radially outwardly of the surface of the mandrel by a distance exceeding the thickness of the hose to be built thereon, rotating the mandrel while applying thereto, and one above the other, a layer of an elastomeric material tape and a plurality of continuous lengths of filamentary reinforcement arranged in side-by-side spaced relation to form a substantially flat band, translating the point of application of the tape and the filamentary reinforcement back and forth along the length of the mandrel between the first coupling members mounted thereon to generate thereon a composite winding in one direction of travel at a helical angle with respect to the axis of rotation and at an equal and opposite helical angle in the return direction, the point of application of the tape and the filamentary reinforcement being brought repeatedly up to each first coupling member to cause said composite winding to engage at least one windingretaining means thereon and the rotation of the mandrel being indexed with respect to the translational movement of the tape and the filamentary reinforcement to cause the composite winding to engage successive winding engaging means on each round-trip pass of the composite winding, after the requisite thickness of winding has been so applied then clamping the retained portions of the winding between each of the first coupling members and a respective second coupling member, and crosslinking the resulting assembly in place on the mandrel.

Preferably, the added step of winding a layer of the elastomeric material tape only over the built-up body of the composite winding to form an outer skin of elastomeric material thereon is included.

A layer of elastomeric tape may, for example, be wound onto the mandrel both before and after the composite winding is generated.

Each of the first coupling members may, for example, be mounted on the mandrel as described and carry a plurality of windingretaining means arranged equidistantly in a circle on a radius exceeding that of the hose to be built thereon, and each first coupling member and its respective second coupling member may be clamped together over winding-retaining means engaged ends of the composite winding before the crosslinking step.

In one embodiment of the method of the present invention, the filamentary reinforcement is a substantially flat band of continuous metal wires located above with respect to said elastomeric material tape and tension is applied only to said band of wires during the winding.

In a further embodiment of the method of the present invention an added short reciprocatory motion is imparted to the winding supply in the region of each coupling so as to apply an extra turning to the winding between each helical run, each such extra turn 70 ing including an elliptically-shaped loop between each coupling winding-retaining means carrying the helical winding and a portion of the mandrel surface adjacent each coupling 75 The method of the present invention produces such a hose by a winding technique utilizing an elastomeric material tape and a band of reinforcements comprising a plurality of continuous lengths of filamentary reinforce 80 ments arranged in a substantially flat band and, preferably simultaneously, wound on a rotating mandrel A pair of first coupling members are mounted in spaced-apart relation on such mandrel and each such coupling 85 member has at least one winding-retaining means thereon.

A composite winding is created by bringing together a continuous length of an elastomeric material tape from a supply reel and a plu 90 rality of continuous lengths of filamentary reinforcement arranged in spaced-apart relation as a substantially flat band While either the tape or the band of filaments can be uppermost, there is a significant advantage 95 to the filaments being above the tape so that a significant tension, taken only on the filaments during winding, compresses the tape as it is applied A winding thus applied stays in position more precisely on the mandrel and 100 produces a tighter and more coherent winding.

Winding starts by temporarily securing the end of the elastomeric material tape and the filamentary reinforcement, to a first coupling member winding-retaining means, passing the 105 starting winding under moderate tension downwardly to the mandrel surface where it is wound thereon as a helical winding progressing to the other end of the mandrel to a similar first coupling member The winding 110 is brought outwardly and is passed over one or more winding-retaining means and from thence back down to the mandrel surface where it is wound thereon in a winding of equal but opposite helical angle to the initial 115 winding run and progressing back to the original first coupling member When the winding-retaining means are in the form of bushings, retainer fingers or clips may, for example, be present on the ends of the bush 120 ings and temporarily retain the windings.

The winding step proceeds by translating the winding feed point or supply back and forth in a reciprocating motion over the surface of the mandrel defined by the first 125 coupling members The mandrel is rotated and the rotation of the mandrel and the linear rate of translation of the winding supply along the mandrel are synchronized so as to generate on the surface of the mandrel 130 1.584151 4 1,584,151 4 a composite band-like winding oriented, in one direction of travel of the winding supply, at the desired helical angle with respect to the axis of the mandrel and, in the other direction of travel, at an equal but opposite helical angle.

During the winding, the winding supply or feed point is brought, at each end of its path of reciprocating travel, over or adjacent to each coupling member so that the composite winding "picks up" a winding-retaining means on the first coupling member In each complete back and forth "pass" of the winding, the pass starts and ends at the corresponding peripheral locations on both of the first coupling members The winding, may, for example, then proceed by indexing the next peripherally adjacent pair of windingretaining means until all such means have picked up an equal number of main helical windings and a circumferentially balanced pattern of windings of the requisite thickness has been built up on the mandrel.

After the desired thickness of the composite winding of elastomeric material tape and filamentary reinforcement has been generated, it is usual to sever the reinforcements and continue the winding procedure with tape only to generate an elastomeric material outer skin on the hose body and over the winding on the couplings.

The method of the present invention then involves a step of clamping the retained portions of the winding between each of ihe first coupling members and the respective second coupling members and the procedure is continued by crosslinking the thus assembled structure in place on the mandrel.

The last step is to remove the mandrel from inside the hose body to obtain the finished hose.

In such hose there is very little, if any, residual tension in the pattern of filamentary reinforcement but the couplings are firmly and integrally bound to the filamentary pattern of reinforcements in the hose body.

Forces exerted on the couplings in service tending to separate the couplings from the hose body are taken up by tension in the reinforcements and these forces, due to the helical nature of the winding, are translated largely longitudinally of the hose as opposed to radially.

Preferably, the hose structure and method of the present invention can be modified by applying extra short turnings in the region of the couplings to stiffen the ends of the hose and strengthen the attachment of couplings to the hose body Such extra turnings can be interposed between each helical run or between each of a selected number of helical runs The procedure involves the interposition of a series of short reciprocatory motions of the winding feed in the region of each coupling, preferably so as to "throw" an elliptically-shaped loop of winding between each winding-retaining means and around a portion' of the periphery of the mandrel adjacent each coupling Each winding-retaining means carrying the helical winding is 70 thus given a loop before the next helical run of the pass is continued By definition an "extra turning" in this sense at each coupling member thus includes at least a number of loops equal to the number of winding 75 retaining means carrying the helical winding.

A convenient way of applying these extra turnings is to start the extra turning at one of the winding-retaining means and pass it down to the circumference of the mandrel in 80 an elliptical winding and back to the same winding-retaining means with the extra turnings being then advanced in progression around the circle of winding-retaining means until an appropriate number and distribution 85 of winding-retaining means have received an extra turning As each run of the main helical body winding is applied an extra turning can be wound on engaging the winding-retaining means in a suitable radial progression 90 The present invention will now be further described, by way of example only, with reference to the drawings in which Fig 1 accompanies the Complete Specification and

Figs 2 to 7 accompany the Provisional 95 Specification In the drawings:

Fig 1 is an isometric side view of one end of a winding mandrel on which the hose of the present invention may be wound, the view showing how an elastomeric material tape 100 and a band of continuous filamentary reinforcement are brought together and simultaneously wound on the mandrel, a first coupling member in the form of a collar mounted on the mandrel and having a circle 105 of bolt hole bushings, each carrying a winding pick-up finger or clip, to serve as windingretaining means, how each winding run is applied at an equal and opposite helix angle, and how, in the embodiment illustrated, each 110 run of the winding engages a number of bolt hole bushings; Fig 2 is a partial sectional end view taken vertically through the mandrel of Fig 1 just inside of the coupling collar, the view showing 115 the shape of the fingers or clips carried by the bolt hole bushings and in dash-dot lines how each successive pass of the composite winding engages successive bolt hole bushings; Fig 3 is a view showing a section through 120 a completed "winding bundle" over one bolt hole bushing; Fig 4 is a partial sectional side view taken along the line 3-3 of Fig 5 through the coupling collar and mandrel, the view showing 125.

the shape of the winding pick-up fingers, the bolt hole bushing, an elastomeric material facing adhered to the composite windingcontacting portion of the inner face of the coupling collar, an elastomeric material 130 1,584,151 1 L 8,S breaker of triangular shape applied to the surface of the mandrel just inside the coupling collar, the inward movement of the coupling collar, which is the result of helical turns of a rope winding under tension at the reinforcements starting at a point where the reinforcement is leaving the mandrel and ending when the angle A has reached 75 degrees (A = 540 before rope applied).

Fig 5 is a partial end sectional view similar to that of Fig 2 showing in dash-dot lines how the direction of the winding is changed by rope winding on the reinforcements; Fig 6 is a view similar to that of Fig 4 but with a second coupling member in the form of an inner clamping collar in place, the view showing how the inner clamping collar is similarly provided with an elastomeric material facing on its winding-contacting face and how the inner periphery of the inner clamping collar is shaped to encourage a smooth transition of the composite winding from the hose body to the winding-retaining means; and Fig 7 is a view similar to that of Fig 6 but showing the completed widing assembly in place, a face plate and the bolts in place and tightened, an outer collar seal applied, and the assembly as crosslinked showing coalescence of the winding on the collars to an integral bundle of solid filament-reinforced elastomeric material.

Referring now to Figs 1, 2 and 3 the manufacture of the hose according to this invention starts by mounting and securing a pair of outer collars 10 (only one shown) in spaced-apart relationship on a cylindrical rotatable winding mandrel 11 The collars 10 preferably are continuous rather than the split variety Each collar 10 has a plurality of bolt hole bushings 12 swaged into a circle of bolt holes Such bolt holes, it should be noted, are peripherally equidistant one from the other and located in a circle at a radial distance above the mandrel surface which is beyond the thickness of the hose to be built thereon.

Each of the bolt hole bushings 12 is provided with a retainer clip or finger 13 of relatively thin crushable sheet metal or plastics material and which is swaged into the bolt hole along with the bushing 12 The outer upper end of each finger or clip 13 is tapered in a two-sided arc coming to a point to allow the winding to slide smoothly into place over the bushing and avoid interference with the winding leaving the bushing A facing 14 (Fig 4) of non-crosslinked elastomeric material is adhered to the inner surface of each of collars 10 in their winding contacting areas Each collar 10 also has a recessed circle on its outer surface into which a circular sheet of elastomeric material 16 (see Fig 7) is fitted after winding is completed As will be noted, sheet 16 is laid on the surface of mandrel 11 and its collars 10 are installed thereover so as to have their inner peripheries coated with elastomeric material not only as a pressure seal but also to protect the metal 70 of the collars against abrasion Lastly, an extra breaker band 17 of triangular shape and composed of non-crosslinked hose body stock is applied over sheet 16 just ahead of each collar 10 to fill the gap between the reinforce 75 ments and outer collar.

As is shown in Fig 1, a composite winding is formed by bringing together a strip or tape 21 for example 200 mm wide by 1.5 mm thick, of a crosslinkable hose body 80 composition and a plurality of individual wires, filaments or cords 22 from suitable supply spools (not shown), the tape 21 being brought over an idler roll 23 and the wires 22 being brought first to a slotted comb-like 85 guide element 24 having an individual slot for each wire 22 As few as two to as many as 100 or more of wires 22, more preferably between 6 and 50 (e g 20 to 50) wires 22, are thus brought together in uniformly spaced 90 apart relationship to form a substantially flat band of wires The tape 21 and the band of wires 22 converge until the wires 22 are laid on the top surface of the tape 21 and may, for example, be at least loosely adhered 95 thereto by natural surface tack of the noncrosslinked elastomeric material Such composite winding 20 thus formed will usually carry from about 4 to about 20, for example from about 4 to 8, wires per centimeter of its 100 width.

The winding procedure usually begins either by applying a continuous sheet 16 of elastomeric material over the surface of the mandrel by hand lay-up procedure or by 105 winding the elastomeric material tape on the mandrel until the requisite thickness 16 of elastomeric material is built up In either case, the collars 10 are then installed and aligned on the mandrel 11 with their bushings 12 in 110 alignment The triangular breaker band 17 of non-crosslinked elastomeric material will be applied over sheet 16.

The winding procedure then continues by securing the end of composite winding 20 to 115 one of the bolt hole bushings 12, for example by wrapping the winding several times around the bushing and/or by forcing the end thereof inside the end of one of the bushings A very significant tension is taken on each wire 120 portion of the composite winding 20, for example a force of one to four kilograms with the lower tension used if the tape is warm and the higher tension if the tape is cold.

The mandrel is then put into rotation whilst 125 simultaneously the winding feed is translated down the length of the mandrel towards the other collar 10 The rate of rotating the mandrel 11 and the lineal rate at which the winding 20 is moved or translated down the 130 1,584,151 Sq 6 1,584,151 6 mandrel must be synchronised so as to generate a band-like winding 30 on the mandrel 11 (see Fig 1) of the correct helical angle with respect to the axis of rotation No means for doing this is shown since both filamentary winding techniques and filamentary winding machines embodying the requisite controls are equally well known and, moreover, the machine forms no part of the present invention The winding procedure can be carried out manually by a skilled operator.

When the composite helical winding 30 reaches the region of the opposite collar 10, the winding 20 is picked up by one of the fingers 13, which directs it over the associated bolt hole bushing 12 The direction of translation of the composite winding 20 is then reversed and winding then progresses back towards the first collar 10 laying down the second half 30 of the complete pass at an equal but opposite helical angle At the first collar the winding is picked up and passes over the same bushing 12 from which the round trip pass originated Winding then continues with a peripherally successive pair of bushings 12 being indexed for each pass.

The peripheral indexing of successive passes produces a natural slight overlap of the edges of each pass As appears in Fig 3 a great many such passes engage each of the bolt hole bushings 12.

While the winding procedure can employ any reasonable helix angle, it is greatly preferred to employ an angle of 53 to 55 (e g.

about 540) with respect of the axis of rotation since such an angle is most efficient in translating radially expansive forces to longitudinally directed tensional forces in the wires 22.

It should be noted, as originally applied, the winding in the region of the collars 10 describes an appreciable angle "A" (see Fig.

4) with respect to the longitudinal surface of the mandrel 11 As will be seen later on,such angle is considerably increased when an inner collar is attached and the winding clamped between the collars The increase in angle can be seen by comparing Fig 4 with Fig 6 where the outer collars are shown to move toward each other under clamping action.

It should also be noted that both the structure of the hose and the procedure of the present invention may be modified so that each end of each run of the helical winding engages only one bolt hole bushing 12 (as is shown in Figs 2 and 5) or each end can engage 2 or more bolt hole bushings 12, as is shown in Fig 1 When each end of each run of the winding passes over a plurality of bushings 12, the "winding bundle" on the bushings becomes larger as the number of bushings included in each run is increased.

It is thus necessary to provide coupling collars having numbers of winding-retaining means (i.e bushings 12) somewhat conditioned on the thickness of the hose body to be generated and to engage each winding run with a selected number of such winding-retaining means or bushings 12 to provide a "winding bundle" which can be recessed between the collars However, a given collar design can be employed on hoses of a range of thicknesses by varying the number of bushings engaged by each run or even by skipping bushings on collars having too numerous and closely-spaced bushings.

It also will be appreciated that at the completion of the winding procedure, the filamentary pattern generated in the hose body is not laminar as in prior art hoses built by sequentially applying reinforcing and tape layers Rather the filamentary pattern is criss-crossed so frequently that in section the filamentary dispersion in the crosslinked hose appears almost randomly uniform, see the section through the bundle in Fig 7.

Moreover, since each winding pass contains a plurality of continuous filaments all of which are secured to each respective windingretaining means on each collar, breakage of one or more of the individual filaments or wires in the same pass has a relatively minor effect on the strength of attachment of the couplings.

After the requisite thickness of composite helical winding 30 has been built up on the mandrel surface, the filaments or wires 22 are severed, the wire ends thus obtained secured to a winding-retaining means to tie it down and the winding of tape only continued to build up an elastomeric material outer skin on the hose of the desired thickness.

The tape only winding is also applied to the outside of each outer collar 10 to fill the circular recess 15 with solid elastomeric material The rotation of the mandrel is then stopped The installation of the inner collar can be facilitated by wrapping a rope or cable 31 tightly around the finished winding at each end of the hose and adjacent the triangular breaker strip 17 (Fig 4) A member of tightly wrapped turns 31 of rope causes the outer collars 10 to move inwardly increasing the angle of the winding passing over the bushings 12 somewhat and inducing sufficient slack in the winding to admit the inner collar Subsequently the wrappings 31 are removed and an inner collar 40, in this case most conveniently of the split variety, is mounted over the mandrel 11 inside each outer collar 10 A collar-shaped face plate 41, also of the split variety, is then placed over each end of the mandrel 11, outside of the outer collar thereon, and bolts 42 inserted through the face plate 41, the outer collar 10, and inner collar 40.

The bolts 42 and nuts 46 are then uniformly and gradually tightened Note in Fig.

4 how the rope wrappings 31 cause inward 1,584,151 7 1,584,151 7 movement of the outer collars 10 and Fig.

6 the collars 10 are moved still further inward towards each other The fingers 13 are crushed by the clamping action of the collars.

As will be seen also in Fig 6 the inner collar has a facing 43 of non-crosslinked elastomeric material on its winding contacting surfaces for example adhered by a good adhesive to prevent filament-collar contact and insure a better seal of the winding bundles Note also in Figs 6 and 7 how the inner peripheral corner 44 of inner collars 40 is gently rounded to avoid kinking of the filaments 22.

The inner periphery of each inner collar 40 is angled sharply away from the rounded peripheral corner 44 to form a collar anchor surface 45, the purpose of which appears below The outer peripheral portions 46 of inner collars 40 are thinner than the inner peripheral portions to provide room for a recessed "winding bundle" The inner collar has a certain profile designed for the following reason:

Fig 4 shows the length and direction of the first (AC-E) and the last (C-D) reinforcement layer The length of these two layers is shorter than the length of the layers in Fig 6, lengths CD' and CE' By completing the assembly of the end coupling members the wires of the reinforcement layer will be stretched Any wire will be stretched.

By crosslinking the hose any wire of the reiiforcementlayers will -become unstretched.

Thus, in a hose in service, any wire of the reinforcement will carry over the same tensile load to the coupling.

After completing the assembly of the end coupling members, tape only winding is resumed to build up an edge seal 50 (Fig 7) between each pair of collars 10, 40 and a thickened elastomeric material band or anchor 51 encasing each inner collar 40 anchor surfaces 45 Anchor 51 may also be an extruded strip The thickness of the resulting elastomeric material anchor 51 helps hold the coupling, spreads the load imposed by twisting at the couplings and increases sealing of the inner collars 40 The hose structure is now complete.

The next step in the procedure is, winding nylon tape 71 around the assembled hose with a large pitch This will be done two times.

After winding the nylon tape, a rope coils on the assembled hose with a certain force to make a body for free crosslinking The completed hose structure is then crosslinked in place on the mandrel This is usually done by placing the mandrel and the assembled hose in a hot air oven or in an open steam autoclave The crosslinking is carried out at any temperature conventionally employed ranging from 1500 to 225 CG.

The last step is to remove the mandrel from the hose after the assembly has cooled.

In the hose of the present invention, the couplings are an integral part of the hose and are retained by tension in the wire reinforcement layers The hose of this invention retains its couplings at any pressure up to atm or more at which the hose body can 70 be built to withstand An experimental hose of i d 200 mm built by the method described failed in the hose body at 50 atm due to a defective cord angle in a portion of the body but the couplings held 75 The hose of the present invention can be built of any elastomeric material but preferably is built employing an unvulcanized tape made of a vulcanisable rubber material based on any of the natural and/or synthetic 80 rubbers Examples of synthetic rubbers which may be thus utilised are SBER, cis-polybutadiene, cis-polyisoprene, the oil-resistant synthetic rubbers such as neoprene and the butadiene/acrylic nitrile ("nitrile") copoly 85 mers rubbers, EPDM terpolymer (ethylene/ propylene/diene) rubbers and butyl rubber.

The elastomeric material of the tape may be compounded by conventional techniques for the properties needed in the hose It may 90 be desirable to employ tapes of different elastomeric material composition in the various parts of the hose, for example, the tape only winding first applied to the mandrel surface can be of a special high abrasion com 95 position or of an oil-resistant rubber composition whereas the tape employed in composite internal winding can be of a softer or tackier formulation having good flow or knitting action during crosslinking and the 100 tape only windings applied as the outer skin of the hose can be specially formulated of degradation-resistant or weather-resistant butyl or EPDM rubbers.

The reinforcement employed in the hose 105 and method of this invention can be any filamentary reinforcement, for example monofilaments or mono-filamentary wires or braided or twisted multi-filamentary cords of naturally-occurring fibers, synthetic fibers, 110 plastics or metals of many kinds.

Examples of suitable filamentary reinforcement are any metal wire braided or twisted metal wire reinforcement members, rayon, nylon, aramide (i e derived from aromatic 115 polyamide) polyester or glass fiber Metal reinforcements are preferred, and most preferred are mono-filamentary forms of iron and steel wire The filamentary reinforcement, whatever its form and composition, is also 120 preferably surface treated to increase its adhesion to elastomeric materials for example, as is well-known good practice in rubber technology, e g radial steel auto and truck tires The filamentary reinforcement may be 125 encased in or pre-coated with elastomeric material before its incorporation in the composite winding of this invention The most preferred reinforcing material is bare monofilamentary wires of steel which have a brass 130 1,584,151 1,584,151 plated coating for good adhesion to the elastomeric material.

Claims (24)

WHAT WE CLAIM IS:-

1 A high pressure, reinforced hose, which comprises a body wall of elastomeric material, an integrally connected coupling at each end of the hose for assembly in use, each of the couplings comprising a first, axially outer coupling member and a second axially inner coupling member, a winding of filamentary reinforcement comprising a plurality of continuous lengths of the filamentary reinforcement arranged in a substantially flat band-like grouping in side-by-side spaced disposition, the grouping being disposed helically with respect to the axis of the hose and extending continuously back and forth through the body wall in successive runs at equal but opposite angles with respect to said axis, the substantially flat band-like grouping of filamentary reinforcement being secured mechanically to the first coupling members at locations thereon which are radially outside of the circumference of the hose body, and additionally the portions of the winding at the coupling locations being clamped between the respective coupling members and sealed by elastomeric material to the respective coupling members.

2 A hose as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of the first coupling members carries a plurality of winding retaining means arranged in a circle radially outwardly of the body of the hose, the substantially flat band-like winding grouping is brought, at the ends of each of its run, outwardly from the body of the hose and located on the winding-retaining means at the same location with respect to the circumference of the hose body and each of said first coupling members and its respective second coupling member are clamped over the retained ends of the runs of the winding by a compressive force exerted in a direction parallel to the axis of the hose.

3 A hose as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, wherein each of the second coupling members has its inner periphery shaped to provide a smooth transition of the substantially flat band-like winding grouping from the hose body to the winding-retaining means and its outer periphery shaped to accomodate a recessed bundle of elastomeric materialencased reinforcing filaments over each of said winding-retaining means.

4 A hose as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, wherein each of the first coupling members has a plurality of winding-retaining projections arranged equidistantly in a circle outside of the hose body wall and extending in a direction parallel to the axis of the hose, each end of each said successive run of the substantially flat band-like winding grouping being passed over the corresponding windingretaining projection at each coupling, and the substantially flat band-like winding grouping being arranged in successive complete passes through said body wall with each successive complete pass being indexed over the successive winding-retaining projection at each first coupling member to form a balanced filamentary reinforcing structure.

A hose as claimed in claim 4, wherein each of the second coupling members has its inner periphery shaped to provide a smooth transition of the substantially flat band-like winding grouping from the hose body to the winding-retaining projections and its outer periphery shaped to accommodate a recessed bundle of elastomeric materialencased reinforcing filaments.

6 A hose as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein each of said first coupling members carries a plurality of bolt-hole bushings rigidly secured thereto and arranged equidistantly in a circle radially outside of the hose body wall and extending in a direction parallel to the axis of the hose, said substantially flat band-like winding grouping being passed back and forth through said body wall in successive runs with each end of each run passing over the corresponding bolt-hole bushing at each coupling, and each first coupling member and its respective second coupling member being secured together by bolts passed through the bushings and exerting on the bushing-engaged winding a compressive force exerted parallel to the axis of the hose.

7 A hose as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein said elastomeric material is a vulcanized rubber composition.

8 A hose as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein said filamentary reinforcement is metal wire, braided or twisted metal wire, rayon, nylon, aramide, polyester or glass fiber.

9 A hose as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein said filamentary reinforcement is a metal and said elastomeric material is a vulcanized rubber composition.

A hose as claimed in claim 9, wherein said filamentary reinforcement is steel wire cord and said elastomeric material is a vulcanized rubber composition.

11 A high pressure, reinforced hose substantially as hereinbefore described and with reference to Fig 1 accompanying the complete specification.

12 A high pressure, reinforced hose substantially as hereinbefore described and with reference to any of Figs 2 to 7 of the drawings accompanying the provisional specification.

13 A method of making a hose of an elastomeric material having filamentary reinforcement and a coupling integrally connected at each end for assembly in use, which method comprises mounting a pair of first coupling members in spaced-apart relation on a rotatable mandrel, each first coupling mem8 9 1,584,151 9 ber having a plurality of circumferentially disposed winding-retaining means carried radially outward of the surface of the mandrel by a distance exceeding the thickness of the hose to be built thereon, rotating the mandrel while applying thereto, and one above the other, a layer of an elastomeric material tape and a plurality of continuous lengths of filamentary reinforcement arranged in side-byside spaced relation to form a substantially flat band, translating the point of application of the tape and the filamentary reinforcement back and forth along the length of the mandrel between the first coupling members mounted thereon to generate thereon a composite winding in one direction of travel at a helical angle with respect to the axis of rotation and at an equal and opposite helical angle in the return direction, the point of application of the tape and the filamentary reinforcement being brought repeatedly up to each first coupling member to cause said composite winding to engage at least one windingretaining means thereon and the rotation of the mandrel being indexed with respect to the translational movement of the tape and the filamentary reinforcement to cause the composite winding to engage successive winding-retaining means on each round-trip pass of the composite winding, after the requisite thickness of winding has been so applied then clamping the retained portions of the winding between each of the first coupling members and a respective second coupling member and crosslinking the resulting assembly in place on the mandrel.

14 A method as claimed in claim 13, wherein the filamentary reinforcement is a substantially flat band of continuous metal wires located above with respect to the elastomeric material tape and tension is applied only to the substantially flat band of wires during the winding.

A method as claimed in claim 13 or claim 14, which comprises the added steps of winding a layer of the elastomeric material tape only over the built-up body of the composite winding to form an outer skin of elastomeric material thereon.

16 A method as claimed in any one of claims 13 to 15, wherein a layer of elastomeric material tape is wound onto the mandrel before the composite winding is generated.

17 A method as claimed in any one of claims 13 to 16, which comprises the added step of imparting an added short reciprocatory motion to the winding supply in the region of each coupling so as to apply an extra turning to the winding between each helical run, each such extra turning including an elliptically-shaped loop between each coupling winding-retaining means carrying the helical winding and a portion of the mandrel surface adjacent each coupling.

18 A method as claimed in any of claims 13 to 17, wherein each of the first coupling members is mounted on the mandrel as described and carries a plurality of windingretaining means arranged equidistantly in a circle on a radius exceeding that of the hose to be built thereon, and each first coupling member and its respective second coupling member are clamped together over the outer winding-retaining means-engaged portions of the composite winding before the crosslinking step.

19 A method as claimed in claim 18, wherein, prior to clamping the first and the second coupling members together, rope or cable is wrapped tightly around the finished winding at each end of the hose, the rope or cable causing the first coupling members to move inwardly thereby increasing the angle of the portions of the winding passing over the winding-retaining means somewhat and inducing a sufficient slack in the winding to admit the second coupling member.

A method as claimed in claims 18 or claim 19, wherein the second coupling members have a profile such that, when in place, the reinforcement is stretched.

21 A method as claimed in any one of claims 13 to 20, wherein the elastomeric material tape and the filamentary reinforcement are applied to the mandrel simultaneously.

22 A method of making a high pressure, reinforced hose substantially as hereinbefore described and with reference to Fig 1 accompanying the complete specification.

23 A method of making a high pressure, reinforced hose substantially as hereinbefore described and with reference to any of Figs.

2 to 7 of the drawings accompanying the provisional specification.

24 High pressure, reinforced hose whenever made by a method as claimed in any one of claims 13 to 21 or 23.

High pressure, reinforced hose whenever made by a method as claimed in claim 22.

W P THOMPSON & CO, Coopers Buildings, Church Street, Liverpool, L 1 3 AB, Chartered Patent Agents.

Printed for Her Majesty's Stationery Office by the Courier Press, Leamington Spa, 1981.

Published by the Patent Office, 25 Southampton Buildings, London, WC 2 A l AY, from which copies may be obtained.

1,584,151